Tempo and mode in hominid evolution.
The nature of human evolution has been viewed recently as a specific example of a more general model of evolution termed "punctuated equilibrium". The characteristics of this model are long periods of little or not evolutionary change (stasis) interspersed with periods of rapid (punctuated) morphological change. Careful analysis of the hominid fossil record over the past 4.0 million years, however, suggests no well documented examples of either stasis or punctuation. The evidence for the evolution of the hominid lineage is most reasonably interpreted by a model of more gradual change with periods of varying rates of evolution.
D000886:Anthropometry; D005075:Biological Evolution; D005580:Fossils; D000882:Haplorhini / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D049690:History, Ancient; D006801:Humans; D012886:Skull / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D013997:Time Factors